St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-06-06

the history of the society. He said he
wished he might mention the names of
some of the devoted persons who had
done so much for the movement and for
the new church. Yet their own modeSty
would not allow it, and if he began he
would not know where to stop. He
then proceeded to answer the question
what the new church stands for. 1t is
called Unitarian church and its central
idea is sounded in the root of that word,
unity. The best ground for our being
Is that we preach unity and peace among
men. Rev. Edward Everett Hale ell
deavOred once to prove from an old his
tOrian that the name Unitarian really
came from an effort of various churches
to overlook their Intermediates. But
if, as more probable, it came from the
doctrine of VI
THE UNITY OF GOD,
still the unity of lone God through all
in alF' includes the unity of men as its
most practical truth. This human unity
has seen the leading principle of
our best preachers. Claiming
emphasizes it, and DIR. Putnam,
who was in the next generation our lead
ing preacher in Boston, said what he
worked for was "a sense of the univer-
sal unity and brotherhood" Unitarians
40 not ask that any man should abandon
his own faith; and so recognize the right
of all to their own opinions, that they
have never formed anything like
creed-and one said that if they ever
should, it should be stamped like rail-
way ticket .'good for this day only" 1t
is often said they agree to disagree. Cor
lyle said he and John Sterling agreed
in everything except opinions
thought that the best companionship;
llgious opinions, to any degree, and still
keep the unity of the spirit in the time
OF peace" Our church here in Mime
apolis declares in its constitution that
It's object is to form society ''where
people, without regard to theological
differences, may
UNITE FOR MUTUAL HELPFULNESS
intellectual, humane and religious work.
Our den0minatiOnal paper in Chicago
took for its name Unity, and declared
that it stood for the unityof all religions
in righteousness and the unity of men
with each other" And Prof. Swing,
commenting on it in the Alliance, said
II we would ''raiSe the flag of unity in
the sense of brotherhood it would be the
best flag that ever waved over any re-
ligion." That is the flag which
we are trying to wave. This idea
of unity is also what Jesus made the
central one in religion, when He gave
His very highest blessing to peacemak-
erS and proclaimed them ''sons of God.''
The Apostles, too, made peace and love
the essence of religion, and pictured
Christ as uniter Of Jews and Gentiles,
''whO made both one, and broke down
the middle wall of partition" between
them. But the church in time forgot
this. and used the name of Christ to
q val l,oZ 4,
old one. 1t
WALLED OFF THE HEBREWS
walled off the heather, cut off most of
mankind, and was itself cut
into more sects than we can catalogue
in a sermon. And by reason of these
divisions Jesus religion was reversed to
degree that would be ludicrous if it
were not SO lamentable. Forgetting His
saying that peacemakers were sons of
God, His followers made war on all who
would not deny it by calling Him the
only son Of God. His command to
Love thy neighbor as thyself''
neighbor if he does not believe like
YOU"
But this forgotten truth of human
unity has been reviving in modern
times. Union of the various sects in
Christianity has been advancing. The
similarity of Christianity with other re-
ligions has been seen. 1t has been adj
mitted at last that the fundamental re-
ligious principle of justice and love have
been preached and practiced more or
less in all lands and faiths. The unity
) OF all religion and races is seen. To this
unity of God and mankind, and to JUS
tice and love and peace as its highest re-
EgiOuS service we dedicate our church.
The congregation then Joined in
responsive dedicatory service, whic had
been proposed by the pastor. The
dedicatOry prayer was made by DIR.
futile, and addresses were given by
Rev. Kristofer JOnson, Rev. S. NJ.
Crothers, of st. Paul, and Rabbi Iliowizi.
Mr.. Simmons read extracts from various
congratulatOry letters and kilograms,
and called particular attention to a
greeting from his former church in
Kenosha,. Wis, in the shape of large
contribution of roses and other flowers.
He said they would close with bene-
dictiOn from the ancient religion of Israel
and it was pronounced by the rabbi.